After Edward leaves, Bella eventually sees that things in Forks aren't going to get any better. So she decides that Forks should be left behind, along with other memories. But what will her future hold?

Now that Edward and Bella are back together, my story is pretty much over. I had intended it to be done two chapters ago, but I felt that some things still needed to be wrapped up. So, my point is, this is the final chapter. So for the last time...Enjoy!

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. No matter how badly I wished that these words were true, I couldn't bring myself to truly trust them. But everything he said, everything Tanya had told me, it all added up. He truly did love me. So why could I not believe?

His face, inches from mine, was filled with a thousand emotions. His usual façade of calm and indifference was gone. His concern, worry, confusion, hope, all were written on his face with perfect clarity. But there was another emotion there I could not place. One that didn't seem to fit in with the others. I needed to know what it was.

I slowly reached up and placed my hand on his cheek. His concerned face grew blurry as I began to slip into his memories. But it wasn't the same as the other times I had seem some one's past. These memories flew by me in quick procession, a blur of thoughts. Each lasted only a few seconds, but I knew all of them, because I was present in each.

The first was when I had started my first day at Forks High, and all the memory was of was me walking into the lunchroom for the first time. It jumped to that first day in biology, then to when he came back and spoke to me for the first time. Every memory of me was rushing through his mind at the current time. There were simple times, when he had held my hand, gazed into my eyes long enough that I lost track of time, or merely held me in his arms. But slowly they became more complex, more connected together. Because, soon, every memory of him and I was a time when either of us murmured a single phrase. There was us in the meadow, in a car, in his home or mine. But in every memory, one of us told the other…

'I love you.'

I retreated to reality, and awoke to find Edward and the rest of the Cullens gathered around me in shock. Edward was shaking me and yelling my name. He stopped when he saw me look around and remove my hand from his face.

"Bella, what happened?! Your eyes went completely black, you stopped moving, I thought something horrible had happened. Please tell me what's going on!" I just listened to his voice, letting the clarity and richness of it seep into me. I took a great breath of air in, and then looked deeply into his eyes. Those emotions were still there, as well as the one I couldn't place. But I slowly began to see what it was. It was love.

I laughed, a true laugh, something I hadn't done in a long time, and I threw my arms around his neck and held him to me as tightly as I could. He stiffened for a second, and then relaxed as his embrace around me tightened as well.

"Are you real?" He questioned me.

"I think so," I murmured back to him, "Or else reality is playing one hell of a trick on us." He chuckled at this, one of my favorite noises in the world. But it was full of relief, almost as if the air was being knocked out of him.

"You're really here this time, right?" I asked, unsure

"What do you mean?" he asked, never letting go of me, simply whispering in my ear. This didn't bother me, I don't think I would have taken it very well if he had moved away from me right then.

"When I was changed, I saw you there, at the very end. I thought you were real, but…" I stopped. How was I supposed to explain having hallucinations?

"I was there." He said simply. I pulled back from him then and looked very deeply into his eyes. They were full of compassion, but the same confusion I now felt.

"He's telling the truth," Emmett said, but neither Edward nor I turned to look at him. Neither of us was ready to look away from each other yet. Nonetheless, Emmett continued, "We were in the airport, and Edward collapsed on the ground. He starts mumbling stuff about not losing you then snaps back to reality sobbing about you being dead. It was really odd."

"You were there…" I said to Edward, my confusion deepening, "But just in our minds…How is that possible? Are we both crazy?"

"Nope, you're just in love." Alice said in her singsong voice. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a huge grin on her face. "You love each other so much that when Bella theoretically died, Edward could tell. The connection between you is so strong that you can't survive without each other. So when one is hurt the other knew. That's so romantic!"

"Alice, that is so cliché and romantically mushy that it's sick." Rose said, ruining the moment. But I was sure what Alice said was right. If something had ever happened to Edward, I knew that some way or another, I would have known about it the moment it happened. That, and the fact I could never survive without Edward. We had already tried that once and look what had happened. I was kidnapped, changed, presumed dead, killed two sadistic vampires, and watched a friend die.

That made me remember Brendon, and his various body parts that I was still carrying. This made me want to dry heave. I looked around and saw that I had dropped his arm on the floor when I collapsed. I turned to Evander.

"Ummm, Evander, I need matches." Edward's eyes grew wide as he looked over to the arm. I felt myself stiffen as he looked away, afraid for no good reason. He noticed and quickly turned back to me. Evander meanwhile had gone to the kitchen and grabbed a few matches in the time lapse of a second or two. He carried the arm outside, and gave me a sympathetic look.

"I didn't think that was what I thought it was…whose arm is that?" I could tell from the look on Edward's face that he thought it was a human. I realized with dread that I hadn't feed in a good amount of days. My eyes must be pitch black by now.

"I didn't kill a human, Edward, I swear I didn't!" I pleaded with him. I didn't want him to think I was a monster. It was the greatest flaw that he saw in himself, what if he saw it in me? Would he leave?

"Bella, its okay, calm down." He saw my quickly escalading panic, and once again pulled me into an embrace and began to stroke my hair. I calmed immediately. "I would still like to know who that belongs to though." He asked. I held onto him for another moment, then pulled back and held him at arms length. His face was open and serene, and I knew that whatever I told him, he would forgive me. I took a deep breath, and started.

"His name was Brendon, and he-" But when Edward began a deep menacing growl, I stopped. The rest of the family was shocked.

"That's Brendon's arm?" Jasper asked. I nodded, dumbfounded.

"How do you know Brendon?" I asked.

"We went to stay with his family in Jacksonville. He had influenced his parents into thinking he didn't exist, and then tricked Alice into thinking you were fine on your own, without us." Esme explained.

"He brainwashed you Alice?" She nodded, "And his parents?!" Everyone nodded. I sat there dumbfounded. He had erased his life completely to try and create a new one with me. Jasper could feel the guilt coming off of me apparently, and a wave of calm hit me suddenly. I turned and smiled to him, but the smile was weak.

"Why did you come with him to Alaska?" Alice asked, and I saw Edward cringe. I realized it was because Alice had just asked the question he was dreading. He must have thought that I went with Brendon voluntarily, not for the reasons I did, but because I cared about him.

"I didn't come with him to Alaska." I said, "I was tricked into going on a trip to Canada, when I actually thought we were going to Forks, but then I decided I needed to come here." Everyone stared at me like I had grown a second head. "That didn't make much sense, huh?"

Carlisle's small laugh escaped him. "Perhaps we should move to a more comfortable place, and you can tell us what you've been doing all this time." It was then that I realized I was still on the floor in Edward's arms. I didn't really mind, anywhere that Edward was holding me was comfortable in my mind. But Edward simply picked me up bridal style and carried me to the living room.

Sitting there, with my family, I told them everything that had happened to me. Leaving Forks, meeting Brendon in Jacksonville, heading to Forks to see Charlie, but ending up in Canada. I told them about how I was changed, and how I saw Edward at the end. I told them about Alaska, finding Tanya, and meeting up with Laurent. At the most recent part of the tale, my epic battle and cliff scaling, the room grew very quiet, and no one spoke or asked questions as they had been doing. When I was done, I realized my tale had taken quite awhile to be told, another day had passed.

Edward suddenly crushed me into his chest, holding me so tightly that as a human, I would have broken a few ribs. He just shook his head.

"Bella, I am so sorry. If I had never left, none of this would have happened. If I had never been such an idiot-"He apologized, but I cut him off.

"Edward, this wasn't your fault. None of us could have seen this happening. Well, except maybe Alice…" She grinned, and I laughed. "But don't blame yourself for this, Edward. Everything is going to be okay, it will all turn out all right."

He gazed at me, and I was quite happy to find that his eyes still dazzled me as they always had. We looked at each other long enough that Jasper cleared his throat to break us out of our trance. I realized I hadn't been breathing, but now I didn't have to worry about that.

"This will all turn out all right?" he questioned again, posing the question more to himself than to me, but I nodded anyway.

"Yes. Besides, we've got eternity to work everything out, don't we?" He smiled, and it stunned me, so dazzlingly optimistic and joyous.

"We do have eternity, don't we?" I smiled and nodded, because that all I had ever wanted, an eternity with the one person I would always love. The one whose memories could not be forgotten in my mind. I could think of a million other reasons, but any other thought I had was erased as Edward's cool lips met mine, and I knew that I would be happy now, no matter what obstacles we face. Eternity was starting to sound better and better.

Fin

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed for this story at one point or another, all your thoughts and concerns mean so much more to me than you could comprehend. This being my first fanfic, its been great to find out what being a writer is really like. I've met tons of awesome people, and I think my writing has really improved. To all of you who have helped me (you know who you are, there's too many to mention) thank you a thousand times over.

Even though this is the last chapter, I would still really appriciate reviews. Finishing this story was really hard, it just didn't seem to want to stop writing itself, but I am rather happy with how it turned out. Tell me what you think, I want to know!

As for those of you who are sad that this story is done, I would like to point out that my new story, Cinderbella, is now up and running! I think its off to a good start, and I want to see some reactions! Please check it out, I would be forever greatful.

This has been an amazing experience for me, I hope it was for you as well! Again, thank you all so much!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.